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Thank you all in advance for doing your part in helping iboats run a smooth ship.

why is my 1-wire alternator setup not charging?

i'll try to explain this the best i can... if more info is needed let me know

i have a 72 winner wildcat with a 307 small block chev... i believe it originally had the 160 i4...

after 1 battery went dead,,, i decided to look into it a little more... (pulling a cable off the battery when running kills the motor)

i had the old alt tested & was told it failed... i bought a new alt for a small block & installed it,,, ran the motor & tested the voltage with a meter & its the same as the battery voltage when not running...

the old alt had an internal regulator but nothing was connected to it... the new alt is the same & i installed it the exact same way as the old one...

i looked for an external regulator under the dash & in the engine compartment & found nothing... as far as i can tell,,, the bat wire from the alt runs to the dash ammeter & then runs from the meter back to the battery post on the starter solenoid...

so what gives??? i tried testing the bat wire right off the alt while it was running & its still the same voltage as the battery when not running...

i've looked for info on the web about 1 wire alt setups & theres something about "exciting the regulator to induce a charge"... what does that mean???

i either toasted or bought a junk new alt or the boat is wired wrong...

Comment

......you do realize that most one-wire alternators require an engine speed of approximately 1,000 r.p.m.s for the alternator to 'self-excite'. Afterwards, as the engine returns to idle, the alternator will continue to....well, alternate.

Comment

......you do realize that most one-wire alternators require an engine speed of approximately 1,000 r.p.m.s for the alternator to 'self-excite'. Afterwards, as the engine returns to idle, the alternator will continue to....well, alternate.

Beat me to it.

1988 Barretta Success with a 3.7
Seems like it is out of the water more than it is in.

Comment

In most application the wire from the alternator is orange and it runs to the starter terminal directly. The batter cable also runs to the starter and that is how the power gets from the alternator to the battery, instead of how yours is hooked up, from alternator to battery then battery to starter.

So if you check the voltage from the location on the starter where those two wires meet, you should read 12 VDC, witch is what the battery is putting out when the motor is off. When you start the motor and bring it up to 1500rpm you should read 13-15 VDC at the same location.

1987 Four Winns 215 Sundowner...
She may be old...but she's got it were it counts!

Comment

mine is wired from the alternator to an ammeter & then back to the starter... but yea,,, i poked it at a bunch of different locations (directly off the alt, at the ammeter,,, at the starter etc) & it all read the same at different speeds...

i brought it to an alternator/starter repair shop & the guy told me it'd need to hit at least 3000rpms to start charging (again,,, which the boat is rarely run at,,, it uses WAY too much gas,,, unless a storm is coming & i need to get back to shore quickly lol)

but he said since its a 42amp,,, he could get it to start charging at around 850rpms...